Modern fluid energy capture systems commonly operate as either horizontal or vertical windmill designs. Generally, typical systems succeed in converting some portion of fluid energy to mechanical energy, which is then typically converted to electrical energy. Typical systems, however, often suffer from significant drawbacks. For example, common horizontal windmills often require a large, open area with consistently high wind flow, including placing the wind interaction area high above the ground. Some vertical windmill designs allow placement of the power generation unit on the ground instead of many meters in the air, which removes the cross-section of the power generation unit from the wind interaction area. However, many common vertical windmill designs are unable to produce a wing design that interacts with the wind as efficiently as the propeller and wind-screw designs of common horizontal windmills.
Similar challenges arise in common water-based fluid energy capture systems (e.g., “water wheels”). For example, many common water wheel systems seek to capture the fluid energy inherent in natural moving water, such as streams and rivers. However, typical systems sometimes require alteration of the local environment in order to improve water flow to the point where fluid energy capture becomes practical. As such, typical water wheel systems require a dam, levee, or other significant structural modifications, which can result in significant impact on the local ecosystem.
Similarly, typical water wheel systems, even systems not requiring significant environmental restructuring, can still threaten the fish and wildlife in the ecosystem in which the typical systems operate. Some systems attempt to modify the water wheel designs in order to minimize harm to the local ecosystem. However, typical systems that aim to minimize harm to the local ecosystem frequently sacrifice production capacity to such an extent that these systems cannot provide commercial-size power production.
Moreover, some typical prior art water wheel systems, even systems not consciously designed to protect the local ecosystem, cannot scale to power production levels because their design does not operate efficiently on a large scale. While some small-design systems can provide limited power, typical systems often suffer from very large cost-to-power-output inefficiencies. Additionally, some small systems suffer from practical scaling challenges with regard to the local operating environment.